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"Freezing Spray" Penetrants

D

DougF

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"Freezing Spray" Penetrants

Some of you may have seen freezing sprays on your local auto parts shelf and passed them by because it sounded gimmicky.

I sell such a product that I cannot sell to the public, but will take a moment to describe it.

I do not know any of the retail names and cannot or will not recommend specific products.

The product that I sell is under fairly high pressure and dispenses a lot of product when expelled. When I demonstrate it, I generally find a metal trash can that will contain the mess and reduce the amount of product I need to use because of the thin wall. I will shoot the surface with my laser thermometer for a before temp reading. After a several second spray, which varies depending on the thickness of the metal, a second temperature reading is generally about -20 to -35 degrees. Quite often, there is over a 100 degree difference between the two readings.

At these cold temps, you will naturally have contraction of the metals. With contraction, the rust will break up enough in the threads to allow the lubricant to penetrate as it thaws.

The product is flammable and must be used in a well ventilated room, so use around ignition or hot wires is not recommended. The product can also cause frostbite, so caution must taken at all times.

These products work in most applications where a penetrant is used. I generally recommend them on smaller fasteners because of the amount of product needed for it to be effective can be prohibitive as the sizes increase. They are very effective on brake lines and bleeder screws. With bleeders, spraying into the hole produces excellent results.

Feed back from my customers has always been very good. I highly recommend this type of product where normal penetrants aren't effective and the use of heat is not suggested.

Pennsylvania and Ohio, the states where I sell, are two of the strictest states in the country concerning the chemicals they permit to be sold within their borders. Both permit the sale of this product.
 
Re: "Freezing Spray" Penetrants

It appears that the product you are selling is a type of refrigerant. My dad started in refrigeration service in the late ‘40’s with sulfur and ammonia systems. Freon became the gas of choice in the ‘60’s and he kept a large tank of Freon 12 in the basement. He would put his empty smaller service tanks in the freezer and refill from the large tank. The Freon 12 would rapidly transfer from the ambient large tank to the smaller frozen tank. Before Freon recovery systems came to market he would put his service tank in ice water and recover the Freon from a system he was servicing. A refrigerant gas when passed through a small orifice and allowed to rapidly expand will freeze. By opening the valve on the Freon 12 tank a frost cloud would appear because the rapid expansion of the gas. If you put your finger in front of the nozzle frost would appear on your finger. Given enough time with your finger in front of the nozzle would result in frostbite. This is only if you were dumb enough to do something like that. This is basically how a refrigerator works. In the early ‘70’s I had an Austin Healey Sprite that needed a ring gear replacement. I heated the ring gear and shot the flywheel with Freon 12 to freeze the flywheel. This worked extremely well and before the two metals returned to the ambient temperature I observed approximately a 3/16 inch gap between the ring gear and flywheel. I would also use the Freon 12 to freeze rusted fasteners for easier removal without using a penetrant. To control the Freon to the area I wanted to freeze I used a B-Line gage hose to direct the Freon to the area I wanted to freeze. At that time the ecology impact of Freon 12 was an unknown but this worked extremely well for my purposes. I prefer freezing a rusted fastener than using heat to loosen. Another method I used to free rusted fasteners was using dry ice to chill the bolt after heating the nut. This would break the rust bond between the bolt and nut.
 
Re: "Freezing Spray" Penetrants

big6 said:
It appears that the product you are selling is a type of refrigerant.

Given the current environmental regulations, I would guess that something along the lines of butane is more likely since Doug states that it is flammable. Even today's "safer" refrigerants affect the ozone layer, just not as much as the earlier types.
 
Re: "Freezing Spray" Penetrants

I looked one up (not the one Doug sells)
https://www.amrep.com/apg_product_detail.aspx?ID=5&C_ID=27&SearchValue=&SubCategory=, and the refrigerant is listed as 1,1-difluorethane, aka R-152a. With no chlorine atoms, it is considered to have an ozone-depletion potential of 0.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1,1-Difluoroethane

R-152a is not flammable AFAIK, but the solvent methyl butyl ketone certainly is. Oleic acid is also listed as an ingredient, which I believe will burn as well.

Thanks for the info, Doug, I was not aware of this line of products. I'll definitely have to try a can.
 
Re: "Freezing Spray" Penetrants

My product contains the ingredients you mention Randall, along with Dimethylpolysiloxanes(63148-62-9).

I would never want the job of producing MSDS sheets.
 
Re: "Freezing Spray" Penetrants

I almost got into the field Doug. Material Safety Data Sheets were daunting...
 
Re: "Freezing Spray" Penetrants

I am chagrin'd I didn't come up with that decades ago! Or one-a you guys...

Refrigerant as both "shrinking agent" and penetrant carrier! Brilliant!

Gotta try it.
 
Re: "Freezing Spray" Penetrants

That's real nice, but how well does it work on cooling off a six-pack? :thirsty:
 
Re: "Freezing Spray" Penetrants

Cool, but SLIPPERY!! :smirk:
 
Re: "Freezing Spray" Penetrants

for six packs
I recommend a tank of CO2....Fire extinguisher makes a nice delivery system
 
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